To El Salvador: Support the Arts

After five years of preparation to be an illustrator, with graduation looming in just a few months, I find myself torn about my future. Part of me wants to be an illustrator with all the freedom and creativity that kind of job brings. Part of me want to go to El Salvador where I could teach art to children and figure out my identity. I'm El Salvadorian, born and raised in Los Angeles, and right now, I need to figure out what that means to me as an artist and as a person.

When I entered the Illustration department at Otis, I wanted to improve on technique but I found there was a high emphasis on concept rather than technique. Soon, I found myself pressured into developing the right concept. Suddenly, I began to see how flawed the image of Illustration I had. For me, illustration was working for a client who already had the concept and all the illustrator had to do was draw what they were told. Had a change of mind about what an illustrator could do. But the act of getting hired was a different story. Unique skills by style, color choices, use of medium and imagination come into play through concept. It builds a unique identity for the artist and the work. At one point I felt the pressure to develop a specific style, but I knew first that I had to get the technique right.

Aware of this, I made the choice to take a break and figure out what illustration now means to me. In that process, I attended Los Angeles City College where I took three art classes. During that time, I volunteered as an Art Instructor at Art Share where I was later offered pay. Art Share is a non-profit organization offering free classes to kids between the ages of 13-24. Their motto is to "Shape lives through art education and community action" ("Art Share Los Angeles"). My responsibilities there were to motivate the students to participate in community projects.


We assisted in the Million Trees Project that helped moderate temperatures through more planted trees. I assisted the students with a mixture of creativity and up-to-date artistic skills. For example, I brought a live model for them to draw from. A student art show was held and I was asked to design the postcard fliers. I was given about a month that involved many changes. The director wanted me to add and change stuff which was very helpful. Even though, I wasn't paid, I was glad to have the experience of working with a client on a project idea. Coming up with a concept was challenging, but I had no problems with the drawing, the director was happy with the results.

Motivating the students made me see how important and powerful it is to be motivated as well as the act itself. I thought, if one cannot be motivated, then how can one even start to think about developing ideas or even care about what they are doing. Some students found it difficult to start painting or drawing. If they didn't come up with the right concept, they didn't feel it was right to start creating. I started to recognize the value of what I was trained to do at Otis. The role of the teacher came into play by encouraging them to draw, to help them build upon their drawings conceptually. Making art in support of a cause was very encouraging and motivating the students to participate was challenging but I think turned out to be extremely beneficial to my renewed perspective as an artist. The fact that I learned all this through teaching made me consider teaching in the future because of how much I enjoyed the process. It will help me figure out if I truly want to expand on my education by possibly earning the credentials to teach. The value of art has been recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. Based on the NAEP Arts 2008 results, he believes that art is part of a complete education helping students succeed in a global marketplace with high standards such as academic commitment, creativity and skillful teamwork. ("The U.S. Department of Education") Teaching will satisfy what I found from Art Share where making art in support of a cause is encouraging. Working at Art Share has inspired me to volunteer at other non-profit art organizations and build upon my efforts.

Escaping a chaotic world into a calmer one is what I have learned to do and I can teach that to the art students in El Salvador. Riding the bus the first to years of college turned out to be risky, especially being a woman. Dealing with people consumed in alcohol or drugs created a dangerous road of stalkers and violent fighters carrying guns. Better prepared for these kinds of situations, I developed a sense of calmness where I could easily avoid panicking. Not adding on to the violence by remaining impervious to it gave me room for self-control. This brought out confidence about going to El Salvador. I am a little more prepared and ready to take on the challenges El Salvador is inevitable to bring. Living with less money in small spaces and also speaking the language seems part of the prerequisite.

Women's organizations have formed in El Salvador since 1987. Running as far away from the idea of "feminism," these groups focus on a challenge seeking the reshaping of an entire society, tending to issues akin to employment discrimination, female sexuality, domestic violence, and the sexual abuse of children. (New Americas Press 8). Kept in the dark about my siblings' sexual abuse, stemmed a curiosity about this issue. Surrounding sexual abuse in children, Art Therapy is a non-verbal, non-threatening search for information. With the help of art, I can visually offer these children a level of comfort to communicate their trauma visually. Often times it is much more comfortable to talk about a picture which becomes second person then talk about themselves.

What I want to do as an art teacher dovetails with the efforts of Fernando Llort's, a Salvadorian artist who opened up his own foundation in El Salvador post civil war in the 80's. The Civil War in El Salvador has caused a disruption to the identity of culture and are now identifying themselves through acts of violence. In 2001, when they lost control over monetary policy and adopted the U.S. dollar replacing the country's original currency, colones. The civil war began in 1980 and lasted for 12 years killing 75,000 lives. This war caused Salvadorans to the U.S. ghettos forming gangs. When the war was over, the U.S. began deporting Salvadoran gang members to their country. In 1998, 34,00 criminals were deported over the next seven years. In 2004 murder rates are 41 per 100,000 compared to U.S. which is 5.7 per 100,000. Dean Brackley states the U.S. Embassy estimated that over 700 people a day were leaving El Salvador because of poor education, poor jobs and violence ("The Fernando Llort Foundation Needs Your Help!").

From my research, I found that there is a non-profit organization called the Fernando Llort Foundation located in La Palma, El Salvador. At the Fernando Llort Foundation, art is being offered to low income children. This organization works to promote arts and culture to get people away from the violence. They have two programs, one that focuses on children between the ages of 3-8 and the other 9-18. Art Therapy, Drawing/Painting, Cultural Identity, Psychological help, Graphic Design, Silk screen, Craft making. The art foundation has been part of a magical act by changing the violent mentalities. My responsibility as an artist is to create magic, as a change to a culture that has been lost and is about to be destroyed. Recreating and inspiring culture back through an art community("Fernando Llort's Foundation").

Currently I am caught between my illustration career and teaching but I must go to El Salvador to figure it out. I know I can just stay here in Los Angeles and continue to work in a similar foundation, but El Salvador seems like a very different experience that would give me the comparison to make a decision about what I need to do. Going to El Salvador not only to work there but to establish the value of my heritage. It must be our environment that motivates or even influences to shape our work. Considering myself to be a person who is calm under pressure and can work through obstacles, I wonder what kind of obstacles El Salvador will bring and how I will cope with them. David Fernando Duke, a local Salvadoran muralist, directly depicts El Salvador in a mural titling it, "San Salvador La Cuidad Que Se Desmonora," meaning "San Salvador The City that Slowly Destroys Itself."(Duke). Salvadorans are funny often using their humor in dark ways displaying an ironic way of affection by frank comments based on appearance. Actually, the nickname my Dad had for me was "fea" meaning "ugly" luckily I never grew a complex because he would always say it in a joking manner. No longer Cuzcatlan, "the land of precious things," but a land where coffee once prevailed, is El Salvador awake or awakening? What is left? Is it truly destroying itself, or is it immortalizing it through the artist's canvas.














Bibliography

"Art Share Los Angeles." 19 November 2009. www.artsharela.org

David Fernando Duke. El Salvador La Cuidad Que Se Desmonora. 2009. Collage, Newspaper, Acylic, Oils on canvas. El Truinfo, El Salvador.

"Fernando Llort's Foundation." 2008. 20 October 2009. http://www.fundafernandollort.org/

"The Fernando Llort Foundation Needs Your Help!" 18 April 2009. www.youtube.com

"The U.S. Department of Education." 15 June 2009. www.ed.gov

New Americas Press. "A Dream Compels Us: Voices of Salvadoran Women." Boston: South End Press. 1989

Public School Desks

Desk top graffiti has been recognized by psychologists and sociologists, still the information on content remains hidden. Inner city high school in the southeastern part of the United States have found that 90% of desks have graffiti on them. In a shape that both mimics an artist's palette and a comic's speech bubble, communication is shared between classmates, yet done away from classmates. With prohibition giving room to anonymity a muted sense of color grows even more louder, and invisibly prohibited, so to speak. Pens, pencils, and markers live in these colorless palettes, exposing nickname, general remarks, random drawings, and mathematical operations. As another form of communication, color centers itself in between anonymity and muted sense, matching itself with content, thus creating feeling to surface. Inside-out these collaborative layers of content, reveals sexuality, self identity and boredom. Hiding underneath, gum, along with its colors, plays a symbolic role exhibiting both the prohibited and the unprohibited.